The extra layer of fat developed during mature turkeys’ long and happy lives means that they provide a rich and succulent meat.

Ingredients

1 x 6kg free-range turkey

1 onion, peeled and quartered

1 Cox’s apple or cooking apple, cored

Preheat the oven to 230C (210C fan oven)/gas mark 8.

Place the onion and the apple in the cavity of the turkey and insert your pop-up timer, at a point about 3cm to the right or left of the front tip of the breastbone. The timer should not touch any bone.

If you are stuffing your turkey, fill the neck cavity only. Remember to recalculate the total cooking time to include the extra weight of the stuffing. Stuffing can also be cooked separately.

Sprinkle salt and pepper over the turkey and place it breast-side-down in the roasting tin (cooking breast-side down until the final half-hour keeps the breast meat moist and succulent while the brown meat cooks evenly). Sprinkle the top with salt and pepper, cover with foil and place the roasting

tin in the preheated oven. Cook at the temperature above for the first 30 minutes, then lower to 190C (170C fan oven)/gas mark 5 and cook for a further two hours and 45 minutes. Thirty minutes before the end of the cooking time, remove the foil and turn the bird over carefully using poultry forks, so that the breast bronzes.

Do not overcook your turkey – it should be moist and succulent. It will be ready when the juices run clear when tested with a fork (plunge into the deepest part of the thigh or breast), or when your cooking timer has popped up. If you are using a meat thermometer, the internal cooked temperature should be 74C. Serve with roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables.